NASA used the occasion of Earth Day this week for a shrewd public relations move when it made available HD-quality views of Earth from the vantage point of space. NASA Television, for the first time ever, aired a 60-minute special broadcast of “Earth views” in HD. (The TV special was recorded; the video had been captured by astronauts on past NASA missions, mostly at the orbiting International Space Station.)

The program aired several times each morning starting April 18, and was repeated throughout the day on Tuesday, April 22, which was Earth Day.

The April 18 program featured a silent version, while this week’s broadcasts featured a discussion of the views by a scientist with the Crew Earth Observations Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.